UWSU Election Special – Voter apathy & International students

UWSU Election Special – Voter apathy & International students

1 month ago

By Earyel Bowleg

Voter Apathy

Out of the nearly 20,000 students out the University, only about 3,000 would vote in SU the election.

It begs the question, why are student so disengaged?

Some students don’t see the power and their vote on the SU. Others just don’t take the SU serious. The union does represents students and provides important services, but it’s still not that significant in the real world.

But Leicester’s SU was trying to prove – you shouldn’t the SU for granted . In February 2014, the union announced they would be shutting down their SU for one day to raise awareness of the services provided by the union. However, the initiative was met with huge backlash.

So what are other ways to improve voter turnout?

Westminster’s SU has The Battle of the Campus competition every year. They track the vote to see which campus has the best voter turnout. Harrow won last year, but what’s their prize?

Back in 2016, the University of Westminster was named the most diverse university in the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand in the Hotcourses Diversity Index.

The University has also been ranked 29th in the Times Higher Education’s Young University Rankings 2017, placing fourth in the UK.
Data gathered in Hotcourses shows there are 8,429 international students from 169 countries at Westminster.

With a huge international population, the SU is working to serve International students

Last year, the SU introduced an International Student Officer to make sure international students and their needs are recognized in Sabbatical Officers’ meetings and create campaigns to improve involvement from this particular group on campus.